The nine-person jury said, “Akin relates law and justice, revenge and pain — with complexity, unsparingly, and with a stirring narrative. The film gives a political issue a human face and unfolds with a ripple effect from which the audience cannot escape, from the first to the very last minute.”

Kruger, in her first German-language role, plays Katja whose life collapses after the death of her husband and son in a bomb attack. The police arrest two suspects: a young neo-Nazi couple. Katja wants justice – for her, there is no alternative.

Produced by Bombero International and Warner Bros Film Productions Germany, In The Fade is with Magnolia Pictures in the U.S. where it will release in February. The Match Factory has sold the film in over 30 territories. It plays at the Toronto fest next month.

Akin previously repped Germany with 2007’s The Edge Of Heaven which did not make the shortlist. The country has overall been well-represented at the Oscars; its last nomination was for Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann last year.